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The Dell G3233Q is Dell’s first gaming monitor to adopt the HDMI 2.1 standard. This puts it in an elite group of high-end 4K gaming monitors launched in recent years. Built for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S owners, these monitors all come with high refresh rates, HDMI 2.1-specific features like VRR, and some form of HDR certification, and the G3223Q is no exception.

However, this particular high-end 4K gaming monitor has an advantage: it manages to cost less than its rivals – here in the UK at least – while still delivering a similar feature set. The result is almost an industry-dominant gaming monitor for console and PC, but for one killer flaw.

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Dell G3233Q review: what do you get for the money?

The G3223Q costs £659 at the time of writing, making it the cheapest HDMI 2.1-ready gaming monitor I’ve tested so far (Acer’s Predator XB323QK was the previous title holder at £700). I should note that in the States the G3223Q can set you back anywhere from $750 to $1,100 meaning UK gamers are getting a surprisingly good deal.

That gets you a 32-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 3840 x 2160, a refresh rate of 144 Hz, a quoted response time of 1 ms G2G, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and generic VRR support and unofficial Nvidia G-Sync compatibility . The G3223Q also has DisplayHDR 600 certification and eight-zone local dimming.

In terms of connectivity, you get two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a single USB-B 3.2 Gen 1 hub-enable port, plus two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DP 1.4 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. (this monitor does not have built-in speakers). The stand can move 100mm up/down, rotate 30 degrees left/right and tilt back 21 degrees – standard rate for these types of monitors. Inside the box you’ll find HDMI, DP and USB-A to USB-B cables in addition to the power supply (no power brick here) and documentation.

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Dell G3223Q review: what does it do well?

I love the way the G3223Q looks. It’s a simple-looking monitor with clean lines and a nice vibrant strip of LED lighting that accentuates the gray plastic back. In fact, it’s all made of gray plastic, but it doesn’t look or feel cheap, and it doesn’t bend under stress. The stand is sturdy and the base is wide enough for a much larger monitor.

The screen itself has suitably thin bezels and although it wobbles a bit, you’ll have to shake your desk quite a bit before it becomes noticeable. To be fair, I’ve never seen a 32-inch monitor that didn’t buckle a little with everyday use.

While the port situation is a little on the lean side, it’s largely no worse than the G3223Q’s various rivals. Even Samsung’s mighty 49-inch Neo G9 only has two USB-A ports on the back, and that’s almost £2,000. PC gamers probably won’t use the extra USB-A ports and console gamers just can’t – for the latter, the presence of HDMI 2.1 on the back of this monitor is what matters most here.

HDMI 2.1 is, of course, the gateway to 4K up to 120Hz on PS5 and Xbox Series X, although few games are currently able to achieve both at the same time. Anecdotally, though, both console and PC gaming on the G3223Q is excellent. This is a responsive monitor with great motion handling: it shows minimal motion blur and no ghosting, until you pump the overdrive setting from fast to faster or extreme. However, this is normal behavior and doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try the faster settings if you like shooters.

It’s also stunningly vibrant in SDR. Out of the box, the G3223Q has managed to produce 132% of the sRGB color gamut, which is equivalent to 93% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 91% of the Adobe RGB gamut. This means that even the Windows desktop looks dazzlingly rich and colorful. It’s helped by a peak brightness of 479cd/m² in SDR, which is brighter than more expensive monitors like the Predator XB323QK and Asus’ TUF Gaming VG28UQL1A could hit in HDR. At 1,037:1, the contrast in SDR is good by IPS panel standards.

There are several color presets available, but as always, we largely recommend ignoring them. Photoshop users should note, however, that the G3223Q can be locked in sRGB or DCI-P3 color spaces: both produced average Delta E numbers of 1.5, which is good enough for a bit of photo editing.

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Dell G3223Q review: what could be better?

While this monitor is sensational to watch in SDR, its HDR implementation is horribly poor, and as a result, both the DisplayHDR 600 certification and the eight-zone local dimming are meaningless. Supposedly the G3223Q can hit 600 cd/m², but this is highly dependent on the content being watched, and all the games I played came out weaker. HDR also doesn’t make good use of this monitor’s wide color gamut: poor tone mapping makes the image look distinctly dull compared to SDR.

The local dimming, meanwhile, comes on by default in the monitor’s “DisplayHDR 600” mode, but remains largely unused. Our local dimming test is a video with a bright, white square/circle moving across the screen at different speeds and in different patterns; only the smallest, slowest moving object caused any kind of local dimming of the backlight. When it comes into effect, it is disturbingly noticeable: the zones react very slowly and the uniformity is poor, resulting in visible, vertical bands of black space.

My other complaints are quite unimportant. It would have been nice to see a USB-C port on the back: while USB-C isn’t all that relevant to gamers, a few of the next-generation 4K gaming monitors I’ve tested so far have USB-C adopted for charging connected devices and using USB-A hubs, which I think is a smart move.

The lack of speakers is a slightly more glaring omission, but mostly because I’d expect at least a pair of weedy 2W tweeters at this price. This means you’ll need a set of PC speakers or a good gaming headset, but I’d still recommend these things to enhance your gaming experience.

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Dell G3223Q Review: Should You Buy It?

Aside from the appallingly bad HDR implementation, the Dell G3223Q is a decent 4K gaming monitor. It performs well and delivers an enjoyable gaming experience with a decent selection of features, all at an inexplicably good price. If the HDR worked as advertised, this monitor would be a true Best Buy.

However, if you don’t care much for HDR and just want a big, bold gaming monitor for your next-gen console and/or gaming PC, you could do a lot worse than the G3223Q.